Day 18 Apologies to my Right Knee and Left Thigh

I worked out today for the first time in about a week.

Normally, I go about 4 times a week but my visit with the crazy “cousins” definitely cut into my down time. I walked away from my workout with a sore thigh and a likely-busted knee.

It felt ah-mazing.

I didn’t start working out until I got into college, usually going with at least one gym partner at a time. Along the way, more often than not I ended up going by myself because my gym partners couldn’t fit into my own schedule and vice versa. Aside from making my calves looking rock-hard and dropping 10 lbs from me, working out provided me with a physical outlet for all the aggression I couldn’t unleash on my poor, unsuspecting patients.

Perhaps one of my favorite thing to do was stadiums.

Stadiums are these really fun/exhausting/exhilarating runs you take when you go up and down the aisles of a stadium. It’s essentially a treadmill and step-climber on crack. It sounds pretty ok, until you come about a third of the way around the stadium and think, “Man, this is a big-ass stadium!” in between nearly passing out.

I always ran with one of my girl friends and I usually skipped at least one aisle because I was so out of breath. But I always enjoyed in and I always looked forward to the end of our run because that was when we met at the very lowest level and took a breather. In the meantime, we’d talk crap and admire the exceptionally hot males running around shirtless and sweating and laugh when we knew they could hear us.

Then we’d start.

One bleacher after another, we’d climb the entire west wall of our stadium. Now, this is a big ass wall, and I’m not just saying that because I’m the same size I was in the 8^th grade. But it’s fairly large, and the bleachers get wider and taller apart from each other the higher you get up. So it’s a bit of a trek, but I loved it and I would love to do one right now.

Because every time I finished, I’d hug the bright orange wall at the top like it was my salvation and turn around, facing the setting sun just behind the VIP box on the other side of the stadium. It’s beautiful. And I’m not talking about just the view; it’s knowing what it took to there. It’s feeling like your lungs are about to collapse but wanting to yell from them at the same time; wincing with the pain in your thighs and calves but finding yourself grinning instead.

It’s a release. And considering my vow for the next year, apparently something I’ll be relying on a lot. : )